Who likes to drive a distinctive vehicle? This is the world's oldest "Dragons & Dungeons" fan. Alternative theory? He's experimenting to see if reptile wings give the truck any added "lift".
I have the flu, or I hope it is the flu. Long hours sipping tea, but wait till you hear about iced tea in a few moments. Wallace and I decided to look into putting that translucent or reflective film over the patio doors. That film is $45 per door these days. We’ll wait. During the summer, the sunlight streams in the patio and bakes whoever is seated in that area.
Despite chest congestion that lets me do great Darth Vader impressions, I met up with Big Al and we went to Verizon for a Blackberry seminar. The host probably regrets the part where he asked, “Any questions?” An hour later it was clear that the manual only made sense if you already knew what to do. What is a sound profile and why do I need to change it? We got two important things down pat. One, find the home page. The unit (Blackberry, the model called “Storm”) would often find its own display. And there are hundreds of them. Two, get used to the keys. They are too small to see when your finger on the pad, but a blue halo appears that, with practice, you can determine if you’ve got the right position.
We needed that practice, so it was over to T.G.I.Friday’s, a restaurant. It’s a good thing Al has money. I know they have a bar where you can have just coffee, because I used to work right downtown on Miami Beach. Yeah, worked downtown three years and went to the beach twice. Anyway, when [she was] asked if we could just have coffee, the “hostess” put on that look of deep, deep concern, pursing her lips, staring at the floor and muttering, “Just coffee.”
The tactic worked on Al. He decided he wanted a burger. With iced tea and dessert. I had a decaf. I wish I’d seen the menu. The tab came to $20. Look no further if you wonder what happened to all those tourists who used to come here year after year. When Florida should have been building an infrastructure, they were all busy building a gouge-based economy. To this day I still find something annoying about a 22-year-old male food server. Shouldn’t he be in college?
I rate the Blackberry as a sophisticated cell phone. It is still in the stone ages as far as what should be expected out of the Internet by now. Some of the touted features, such as GPS, cost extra. I could not find the video button. I worked the camera and programmed his contacts. I consider text-messaging an anachronism and can’t see why it is that different from e-mail, which the unit also does. Or why there are two modes of text messaging when the appearance of both are identical.
In the year 2525, what will the archeologist who finds one of these Blackberries going to conclude? It is embarrassing since the majority of menu selections are for entertainment or advertising. Or games and movies. Some people have to be entertained 24 hours a day. There is even a button to intentionally view paid advertising for those bent that way. During the learning process, I found out (news to me) that Bluetooth is available in cars. You can operate your printer, scanner, phone and who knows what else wirelessly while you drive. Make sure you also rig up a camcorder for the accident.
Shortly thereafter, I ran into Patrick, the dude who’s daughter wants the music lessons. It won’t take long to find out if she has real interest or the attention span of a preteen. Well, I mean now it won’t, because I’ve learned. In my family, there was no detectable difference well into adulthood. The discussion of what instruments and such took two hours, during which I was handsomely paid to sit and drink free beer. It cleared up my sinuses.
Arriving back at Camp Hollywood, Wallace wanted to go out to play crib. I suggested the Upper Deck, where Little Jo used to work. This was a good choice, we had several ladies chat with us about the game. Two games, both of which I lost, one by a few points, the second by a skunk. The ladies were prospecting. When it became clear we weren’t going to give them anything for free, they moved on. Like the hostess at Friday’s.
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